§ 14-2. Prohibited acts; exemptions.

A. 

No floating home or residential houseboat shall be occupied, used, moored or anchored within the Town of Brookhaven or secured to any dock, piling or shore within the Town of Brookhaven, and no floating home marina shall be permitted in any zoning classification within the Town of Brookhaven.

B. 

No marina shall permit the in-water or out-of-water storage, anchorage, mooring or docking of any floating home or residential houseboat. Out-of-water storage of vacant floating homes or residential houseboats shall be permitted. No marina owner shall be guilty of a violation of this chapter when such violation is caused by a tenant or occupant of the marina and the floating home or residential houseboat is moored or docked therein pursuant to a written lease or agreement, signed by the owner of said floating home or residential houseboat, containing a written prohibition against violation of this chapter.

C. 

No person, firm, association, partnership or corporation shall operate or cause to be operated a floating home marina or rent, hold out for rent or sell any site or space for the location of a floating home or residential houseboat unless said floating home or residential houseboat has been granted a special permit pursuant to Subsection D herein and the location approved as provided therein.

D. 

Preexisting uses. Existing residential houseboats and floating homes located within the unincorporated areas of the Town of Brookhaven prior to March 8, 1987, may apply to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a special permit exempting said residential houseboat or floating home from the above provisions, subject to the following conditions:

(1) 

Said application must be made within 120 days of the effective date of this chapter.

(2) 

Any special permit issued by the Zoning Board of Appeals must be renewed every three years. To entitle the applicant to a renewal, said applicant must demonstrate compliance with all sections of this section as well as all terms and conditions of the original Board of Appeals grant.

(3) 

Said special permit must be renewed within 90 days of a sale or transfer of the floating home or residential houseboat to any person other than a member of the owner's family.

(4) 

Said special permit shall cease and be of no further force and effect upon destruction of the floating home or residential houseboat by reason of storm, fire or other cause when said destruction is beyond 50% of the cost of restoring said residential houseboat or floating home as the same shall be determined by the Chief Building Inspector.

(5) 

No such floating home or residential houseboat shall be placed in any manner that it will obstruct or interfere with navigation.

(6) 

Said permit shall be conditioned upon installation, maintenance and use of a sanitary disposal system and wastewater disposal system in conformance with standards to be established by the Director of the Division of Environmental Protection.

(7) 

In the event that the floating home or residential houseboat is moved to another location, said special permit shall expire. However, nothing herein contained shall be construed to forbid the owner from applying to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a renewal of said special permit. A floating home or residential houseboat may be temporarily moved to another location for maintenance, repairs or storage.

(8) 

The applicant for said special permit must demonstrate that said residential houseboat or floating home is sited in a sheltered location, with the permission of the property owner, that the location of the floating home or residential houseboat is an accessory use to the adjacent uplands and that the location of said residential houseboat or floating home will not interfere with navigation.

(9) 

Approval of a preexisting residential houseboat or floating home shall be deemed a Type I activity pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act and may be deemed a regulated activity by the Director of the Division of Environmental Protection pursuant to Chapter 81 of the Code of the Town of Brookhaven.

Editor's Note: See Environmental Conservation Law § 8-0101 et seq.

(10) 

All preexisting residential houseboats and floating homes shall be maintained in conformity with the terms and conditions of said special permit and the requirements of this chapter, must be kept clean and neat in appearance and must be maintained in seaworthy condition.

(11) 

The owner of a preexisting residential houseboat or floating home occupied pursuant to a valid special permit issued hereunder may apply to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a modification of said special permit to allow reconstruction or replacement of the floating home or residential houseboat.